I have been reading J.P. Moreland’s book, Love Your God With All Your Mind:  The Role of Reason In The Life of the Soul (NavPress, 1997).  The book is in our Idaho Falls public library.  Take a peek at it sometime.

He writes:

“Theologians describe God as a maximally perfect being.  This means that God is not merely the greatest, most perfect being who happens to exist.  He is the greatest being that could possibly exist.  If God were merely the greatest being who happens to exist, it would be possible to conceive of a case where a greater god could come along (even if such a being did not actually exist) or where the real God grew in His excellence.  In these cases, our degree of worship ought to increase and, therefore, a God who just happened to be the greatest being around (and who could be surpassed in excellence) would not be a worthy object of total worship.  Fortunately, the God of the Bible is a maximally perfect being; that is, He is the greatest being that could possibly exist.  It is impossible for a greater being to supersede God or for God Himself to improve Himself in any way.  Thus, God is owed our supreme, total worship.  This is why Scripture calls idolatry the activity of giving more dedication to something finite than to God.  God is worthy of the very best efforts we can give Him in offering our respect and service through the cultivation of our total personality, including our minds. . . .

Far too often, we are allowed to leave our minds at the door when we come to worship God in the assembly of His people.  This is simply unacceptable and beneath God’s dignity as a maximally perfect being.  What we need to do is plan more carefully and think harder about how we can engage the intellects of our brothers and sisters as part of our collective offerings of praise to our Father. . . .

And then the author jumps right into John 4:24:

The first half of the verse is not as widely discussed, yet it is clear that “God is spirit” forms the foundation upon which Jesus’ entire response is built.  What does this phrase mean and why is it so relevant to the nature of genuine worship?

In John’s writings, we often encounter a word or phrase that has a dual meaning, both of which are intended by the author.  For example, in John 3:7 Jesus says we must be “born anothen.”  The Greek term anothen can mean either “again” or “from above,” and it appears that the ambiguity is intentional:  both meanings are intended.  I think the same thing is going on with “God is pneuma [spirit].”  Before I state the dual meaning of pneuma, it is important to observe that the word is placed first in the Greek text of the verse, which literally reads “spirit is God.”  In Greek, when an author wanted to emphasize an adjective (in this case, “spirit”), he would place it at the first of the sentence.  So the verse says something like this:  “It is of first importance to recognize that God’s very nature is that of spiritual being.”

In addressing the woman’s confusion, Jesus meant two things by “spirit.”  First, God is an immaterial, spiritual being, not a material object.  Since material objects like idols are located at specific places, it makes sense to localize worship where those idols are.  But since God is an omnipresent spirit, He is not confined to one place and, thus, geographical location is not crucial for worship, given God’s spiritual nature.  As David reminds us in Psalm 139:7-12, there is nowhere we can go where God is not present.

The second meaning of “spirit” in the passage is more relevant to our topic.  Throughout the Old Testament, when God is referred to as spirit it is often to emphasize that He is a living, active being who initiates toward His creatures and give them life.  Thus, in Genesis 1:2 it is the Spirit of God who hovers over the waters.  In John’s writings, this same meaning is frequently associated with God as a spirit.  For example, in John 6:63 it is the Spirit who gives life, and in John 7:37-39 it is the Spirit who produces rivers of living water in the lives of God’s children.  What does this have to do with worship?  Simply this:  Worship is not under control of human beings, nor is the form it takes up to their whims.  Rather, worship is a response to a God who initiates toward His people, gives them life, and shows Himself active on their behalf.